1.

The Nottinghamshire Senior Badminton Association shall appoint a League Executive Committee for the purposes of running league competition. The League Executive Committee shall comprise the Hon. League Secretary and two other members of the Senior General Committee.

Subject to sufficient support being obtained competitions will be held annually for Men's Doubles, Ladies' Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

The League Executive Committee shall have authority to arrange these in as many divisions as may be necessary and shall also have responsibilities to consider and deal with any matters, controversial or otherwise, arising out of the running of the league competitions.

2.

The Competitions shall be open to all clubs affiliated to the Association and shall be run in accordance with the following rules and with the laws and regulations of badminton for the time being sanctioned by the Badminton England so far as these are applicable to the Competitions.

3.

The whole of the fixtures shall be made at a meeting of Club Secretaries or representatives to be convened by the League Executive Committee and held in September. The Hon. League Secretary shall give each club 14 days clear notice of such meeting. Each club must be represented at the meeting by the Match Secretary or some accredited representative.

4.

Any new Teams desirous of competing and those teams intending to withdraw from the Competitions must notify the Hon. League Secretary seven days before the Annual League Fixture Meeting. Teams withdrawing from the competition within the 7 days before the Annual League Fixture Meeting shall be fined £5 per team.

Any new team entering the League shall be included in the lowest division. Any team being withdrawn shall be the club's lowest in that section.

5a.

The Mixed and Men's leagues shall consist of a Premier Division and First Division of eight teams with Division 2 and below being divided into two sections A & B of seven teams, playing one match only against each other team in that section or division.

5b.

The Ladies' league shall consist of a Premier Division and as many divisions of seven teams as are considered necessary, playing one match only against each other team in that section or division.

5c.

The venue to be decided by mutual agreement and to be reversed each successive year.

5d.

Clubs shall be allowed to have no more than two teams in the Premier Division or Division 1, subject to a maximum of three teams in the two divisions, and no more than one team in any other section or division

5e.

Promotion and relegation shall be as follows:

5f.

In the event of a team NOT eligible for promotion finishing in first or second place in any Division as applicable, the next eligible team shall be promoted providing it has completed its programme, and has won at least half its matches. In the event of the next eligible team not having won at least half its matches, it may challenge the SECOND lowest team in the next higher Division. The League Executive Committee shall have the power to waive this option where the challenged team agrees to be relegated; except that if the challenging team is scheduled to be relegated, the right to challenge shall be lost. Any such challenge shall be played within three weeks from the end of the appropriate season. The challenging team to have choice of courts with costs being shared by both teams and settled on the day of the match.

5g.

In all sections promotions shall be to the corresponding section, but relegation shall be to a different section. Where this would result in two teams from the same club competing in the same section the League Executive Committee shall have the right to exercise its discretion.

5h.

If any club has two teams in the Premier Division, or Division 1, this fixture MUST be the first match of the season. The penalty for not so doing will be the loss 9-0 of all matches played by the offending teams.

6.

Each team shall consist of three pairs, each pair to play the best of three games against each pair of the opposite team, the team which shall win five or more rubbers shall be declared the winner. All rubbers shall be completed wherever possible. Matches shall be played with Regulation Feather Shuttles unless both sides have previously agreed to use nylon Shuttles.

7.

The qualification for playing for a Club shall be "bona-fide" membership of that club. The players’ subscription to the Association should be sent to the Hon. Registration Secretary, and the Badminton England affiliation fee sent directly to Milton Keynes.

No one shall be eligible to play for more than one club in the same competition during the same season.
In the event of a club playing an ineligible player all matches in which that player has competed during the current season shall be awarded to the opposition 9-0.

Any individual who is a member of two or more clubs shall be eligible to play for one Club in the Mixed League Competition and for another Club in the Men's or Ladies' Competition.

8.

Clubs entering more than one team in a competition shall 'star' their best four players for the first team, the next four for the second team and similarly for each additional team with the exception of the lowest. In the Mixed Competition Clubs shall 'star' an equal number of Ladies. The Hon. League Secretary must be notified of nominated players for each section, Men's, Mixed or Ladies' before the first match is played in that Section. A 'starred' player shall not play in a lower team than that which he or she is 'starred', the penalty for infringement being the loss of the match 9-0.

If a player does not play in two out of the first three matches played by the team for which he or she is 'starred' the club concerned must immediately report the fact to the League Secretary unless the player concerned has played in a team for that club in a higher division.
Clubs that fail to take such action may incur penalties

9.

If any club cancels a match or fails to put in an appearance on the specified date arranged except by mutual agreement between the clubs affected, the defaulting club shall forfeit the match to its opponents, and shall forfeit nine rubbers, eighteen games, two hundred and seventy points and shall have two points deducted from its record.

Provided always that if the date arranged shall coincide with the date of an International Match, Exhibition Game, County Match, Tournament, Knock-Out Cup Match or Dance held under the auspices of the Association then the match in question shall be re-arranged unless otherwise mutually agreed between the two clubs concerned.

All League matches must be confirmed by the home team at least seven days before a match is due to be played.

10.

If a club shall withdraw a team from the competition before completing its engagements or concede more than two of its Matches, all records of matches played by the team shall be expunged.

11.

The detailed result of every match shall be communicated in writing to the Hon. League Secretary within 48 hours of the match being played by the Secretary of the home club.

12a. 

When the fixture is arranged the starting time is to be mutually agreed. For matches where there is more than one court available, the starting time for the second and third courts (not necessarily both the same and not necessary the same as for the first/second courts) shall also be mutually agreed.

12b. For each court if a team has no couple ready, or the correct and agreed equipment and shuttles are not made available by the home team within 20 minutes of the agreed starting time, one rubber shall be forfeited 15-0, 15-0.

12c. Similarly for each court if a team has no couple ready to play, or the correct and agreed equipment and shuttles are not made available by the home team within 40 minutes of the agreed starting time, a second rubber shall be forfeited 15-0, 15-0.

12d. Similarly for each court if a team has no couple ready, or the correct and agreed equipment and shuttles are not made available by the home team within 60 minutes of the agreed starting time, a third rubber shall be forfeited 15-0, 15-0.

12e. If a team has no couple ready to play, or the correct and agreed equipment and shuttles are not made available by the home team within 90 minutes of the agreed time the whole match shall be forfeited 9 rubbers to 0.

12f. Once play has started, it shall be continuous apart from natural breaks, in the generally accepted order (of 1,2,3. 1,2,3. 1,2,3. for the visiting team and 1,2,3. 2,3,1. 3,1,2. for the home team) except if a team does not have its next pair ready to play when required, it may play out of order as long as the other team can play in its correct order. Should the position then be reached that it has no pair ready to play it shall forfeit all unplayed rubbers 15-0, 15-0.

12g. A team without three playing pairs cannot win the match, which will be awarded to the other team. However, all rubbers played will be recorded and count for rubber average purposes.

12h. As the league is established for the purposes of playing matches, the team that is not late shall have the option of allowing the rubber(s) to be played rather than forfeited, or of delaying the forfeit until later on when it can be seen that the match cannot be finished within a reasonable time.

12i. In the knockout competition the rubber(s) to be forfeited shall follow the agreed order of play.

12j. If it is not possible to complete a match within the time available, the unplayed rubber or rubbers must be played within 28 days. If a result has been obtained, then the result shall stand as at the finish of play. Part-finished rubbers shall be completely replayed. Unplayed rubbers must not be given to either side.

13.

All differences and disputes shall be referred to and settled by the League Executive Committee. Particulars thereof shall be sent in writing to the Hon. League Secretary by the Secretaries of the clubs concerned, who may be represented at the meeting convened to deal with the matter by giving notice in writing of such intention to the Hon. League Secretary and to the Secretary of the other Club concerned.

14.

 If in any division of the League two or more Clubs finish the season having won the same number of matches their position in that division shall be determined by rubber averages, i.e. the number of rubbers won divided by the number of rubbers lost, or if the rubbers average be equal, by games average and if still equal, by points average. In the event of a tie between clubs eligible for promotion or relegation in any division, a match or matches shall be played off to decide the same. A tie shall be understood to mean equality in matches, and in rubber, game and point average.

15.

For the breach of these rules and for irregularities, the Executive Committee may impose such penalties as it may think fit.

The Hon. League Secretary shall be notified by both clubs of the mutual alteration of any fixture.

Matches not played by 31st March may be arranged and dealt with by the league Executive Committee

16.

Law 15.4.4 with respect to faults shall apply to all league competitions. Where clubs play a venue with a low ceiling and/or obstructions the club shall give prior notification to the Hon. League Secretary stating that they wish to apply the local by-law permitted by the Badminton England whereby when the shuttle is hit by a player and hits the roof and falls within the opponent's court it shall be a let.

Where there are temporary low obstructions lets and/or faults shall be agreed between the two captains before play commences.

June 2005